Behavioral Regulation and Self-Control

Abstract

The kinds of questions we ask determine what sort of answers we will obtain; and often they may also determine whether those answers are useful or not. A child who is always getting into trouble, for example, may cause those around him to wonder from which side of the family he has “inherited his mean streak,” or what sort of “mental disease” may be producing these troublesome symptoms—or even whether or not this may be a “rotten kid” who deliberately chooses evil whenever he is given an opportunity to do so. But a psychologist will usually ask a different sort of question, in the hope of obtaining a more useful answer; namely, “What’s the payoff?” More specifically, what is the child getting out of his behavior which makes him continue to engage in it?